Hieron of Siracuse in Pindar's first Pythian Ode

• Grant number: 17/17338-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: November 01, 2017
• End date: April 30, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Literature - Classical Literatures
• Principal Investigator: Christian Werner
• Grantee: Ricardo Tieri de Brito
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The current research project aims to investigate Hieron of Syracuse's depiction in Pindar's First Pythian Ode. Dating from 470 B.C., the poem mobilizes the celebration of the Deinomenid tyrant's victory in the chariot race during the Pythian Games as a positive omen for the foundation of the polis of Aetna in the context of the expansionist policy of the dynasty to which he belongs. The double compliment to Hieron, as a victorious athlete and as founder (oikistes), raises questions about the epinikion flexibility as a type of archaic Greek choral poetry, in particular, about the role poetry plays in legitimization strategies implemented by tyrannical autocracies in the Greek Sicily in the beginning of the 5th century B.C. (AU)